A terror threat prompted the State Department on Thursday to direct its embassies in key Middle East nations, including Egypt and Israel, to close on Sunday with the possibility they could remain idle longer.

A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly on the matter called the threat "credible and serious."

It was "directed at American targets overseas," but may not be confined to main diplomatic facilities, the official said.

After a statement from Ariel Castro - the Cleveland man who held three women captive and sexually abused them for the better part of a decade - and powerful words from one of his victims, a judge sentenced him Thursday to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

Judge Michael Russo called the sentence "commensurate with the harm you've done."

"There is no place in this city, there is no place in this country, there is no place in this world for those who enslave others," Russo said.

A group supporting deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy have called for a million-man march from 33 different mosques Friday following noon prayers under the banner of "Egypt against the coup," according to a statement released Thursday by the Anti-Coup Prodemocracy Alliance.

They also called on "all free people in all countries of the world to demonstrate peacefully" in support of their marches, according to the statement.

Edward Snowden is in good health in Russia and his lawyer there is amenable to hammering out an ending that would satisfy all. This, according to his father's lawyer, Bruce Fein, who appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" on Wednesday night.

He relayed the conversation he had with Russian lawyer Anatoli Cuchara.

"There may be a time, where it would be constructive to try and meet and see whether there can't be common ground that everyone agrees would advance the interest, the United States, Mr. Snowden, Lon, his father and the interest of Russia in trying to resolve this in a way that honors due process and the highest principles of fairness and civilization," Fein said.

Snowden is afraid he would not get a fair trial if he came back to the United States.

When an Ohio judge denied a request for Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro to visit the 6-year-old girl he fathered with one of the women he kidnapped and raped, the reason seemed pretty clear cut.

"I just think that would be inappropriate," Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo said last month.

The idea that Castro - who will be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to 937 counts - would have any parental rights is hard to believe. But in 31 states, rapists do enjoy the rights of a father.

Ohio currently has no laws that would take away Castro's parental rights for fathering the child with Amanda Berry, who he abducted in 2003 when she was a teenager.

Rebels in an unstable part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have until Thursday afternoon to hand in their weapons to U.N. peacekeepers or risk being disarmed by force.

The ultimatum comes amid the latest flare up of unrest in central Africa's volatile Great Lakes region.

The 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, issued the deadline on Tuesday. It's the first time it has said it will use its troops there to implement a security area around the city of Goma, by the border with Rwanda.

An eastern Pennsylvania police chief who went on a profanity-laced video rant against those who disagreed with him on gun laws has been suspended for 30 days without pay.

The punishment wasn't for his diatribe though.

The borough council in the coal town of Gilberton said that police Chief Mark Kessler used "burough property for non-burough purposes without permission" when he made the video where he's seen shooting semiautomatic and automatic weapons.

The Ohio man who imprisoned three women in his Cleveland home for a decade will speak at length during his sentencing Thursday, delivering a statement that his sister promises will allow people to see "the other side of Ariel Castro."

Castro pleaded guilty last week to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in a deal that dropped a possible death penalty in exchange for life in prison plus 1,000 years.

He'll give a rather lengthy statement, explaining his life and who he really is, his sister, Marisol Alicea, told CNN on Wednesday night.

Record-breaking temperatures have been searing large swaths of China, resulting in dozens of heat-related deaths and prompting authorities to issue a national alert.

People are packing into swimming pools or even taking refuge in caves amid attempts to escape the fierce temperatures. Local governments are resorting to cloud-seeding technology to try to bring rain to millions of acres of parched farmland.

Injured New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball are negotiating a deal that would result in a lengthy suspension instead of a permanent ban, ESPN reported Wednesday night.
According to the "Outside the Lines" report, a source familiar with the discussions said representatives for the three-time AL Most Valuable Player and 14-time All-Star are talking with league officials.

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